OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine the current status of presenteeism and absenteeism among railroad workers as well as to investigate whether or not job stress level and psychosocial well-being status are associated with presenteeism and absenteeism. METHODS: As the cross-sectional design, a self-reported questionnaire using the Korean Occupational Stress Scale(KOSS), Psychosocial Well-being Index(PWI), and Work Productivity and Impairment-General Health(WPAI-GH) was administered to railroad workers. Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used to analyze the association between job stress, psychosocial well-being status and presenteeism, absenteeism in 1,099 subjects. RESULTS: Among the study subjects, 52.0% and 22.0% experiened presenteeism and absenteeism, respectively. Job stress level in railroad workers was higher than that in general workers. Multivariate logistic regression with presenteeism as the dependent variable showed an elevated odds ratio of 3.56(95% CI 1.48-8.54) in the highest job stress group, and an odds ratio of 3.20(95% CI 1.94-5.26) in the high-risk psychosocial stress group. There was no significant association between job stress level and absenteeism, whereas weak association between psychosocial stress and absenteeism was found. CONCLUSIONS: Since railroad workers have a high level of job stress and elevated experience of presenteeism, a management strategy is required to control presenteeism and absenteeism in order to promote railroad workers' health and safety.
Absenteeism ; Efficiency ; Logistic Models ; Odds Ratio ; Questionnaires ; Railroads ; Sick Leave

BACKGROUND: Because there is no specific treatment for the common cold, many previous studies have focused on prevention of the common cold. There were some studies reporting that regular, moderate-intensity exercise increases immunity and prevents the common cold. We conducted a meta-analysis to determine the effects of exercise on prevention of the common cold. METHODS: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), CINAHL for studies released through June 2013. We manually searched the references. Two authors independently extracted the data. To assess the risk of bias of included literature, Cochrane Collaboration's tool for assessing risk of bias was used. Review Manager ver. 5.2 (RevMan, Cochrane Collaboration) was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Four randomized controlled trials were identified. A total of 281 participants, 134 in the exercise group and 147 in the control group, were included. The effect of exercise on the prevention of the common cold had a relative risk (RR) of 0.73 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.56 to 0.95; I2 = 7%). The mean difference of mean illness days between exercise group and control group was -3.50 (95% CI, -6.06 to -0.94; I2 = 93%). In the subgroup analysis, the RR of under 16 weeks exercise was 0.79 (95% CI, 0.58 to 1.08). CONCLUSION: In this meta-analysis, regular, moderate-intensity exercise may have an effect on the prevention of the common cold. But numbers of included studies and participants were too small and quality of included studies was relatively poor. Subsequent well-designed studies with larger sample size are needed to clarify the association.
Bias (Epidemiology) ; Common Cold* ; Sample Size ; Sick Leave

OBJECTIVE: Cognitive symptoms are an important component of depression and the Perceived Deficits Questionnaire-Depression is one of only a few instruments available for the subjective assessment of cognitive dysfunction in depression. Thus, the present study aimed to validate a Korean version of the PDQ-D (K-PDQ-D) using patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). METHODS: This study included 128 MDD patients who were assessed at study entry and 86 of these patients were then completed 12 weeks of antidepressant monotherapy. All subjects were assessed with the K-PDQ-D, the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), the Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS), the EuroQol-5 dimensions questionnaire (EQ-5D), and the number of sick leave days taken in the previous week. The internal consistency, Guttman's split-half and test-retest reliabilities, factorial analyses, and concurrent and predictive validities of the K-PDQ-D were investigated. RESULTS: The K-PDQ-D exhibited excellent internal consistency and reliabilities, and was composed of four factors with high coefficients of determination. The concurrent validity analyses revealed that the K-PDQ-D scores were significantly correlated with the MADRS, SDS, and EQ-5D scores and the number of sick leave days taken. The K-PDQ-D scores at study entry significantly predicted changes in sick leave days and EQ-5D score from study entry to the 12-week endpoint. CONCLUSION: The newly developed K-PDQ-D is a reliable and valid instrument for the evaluation of subjective cognitive symptoms in MDD patients. The K-PDQ-D may assist in the gathering of unique information regarding subjective cognitive complaints, which is important for the comprehensive evaluation of patients with MDD.
Depression ; Depressive Disorder, Major* ; Humans ; Neurobehavioral Manifestations ; Sick Leave

BACKGROUND: Agriculture ranks among the most dangerous trades worldwide. There is, however, still a lack of knowledge on nonfatal injuries in agriculture. The aim of this study was to describe the nature and occurrence of nonfatal injuries in farmers in two counties in central Norway. METHODS: A questionnaire was sent to 7,004 farmers in Norway. We asked for information about the respondents and the farm, whether the farmer had had work-related injuries on the farm during the past 12 months, and details about the incidence and seriousness of the injury. RESULTS: A total of 2,699 respondents gave a response rate of 42%. Of the respondents, 249 (9.2%) reported one or more work-related injuries. The most usual cause of injury involved an animal, and >75% of these happened inside the outbuilding. Among these, 17.5% had a consequence of sick leave or a more serious result. When all the accidents were analyzed by stepwise logistic regression, only the variables: works alone, has >3,500 stipulated working hours at the farm, and the type of production were statistical significant explanatory variables for having an injury. CONCLUSION: Incorporating safety aspects to a greater extend in the design and construction of outbuildings would make a substantial contribution to injury prevention in agriculture.
Farmers ; Animals ; Incidence ; Logistic Models ; Norway ; Occupational Injuries* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Sick Leave

PURPOSE: This study was to examine the influences of working conditions and health status on absence due to sickness in health and medical related workers. METHODS: Data from the Third Korean Working Condition Survey was used. Study participants included 929 workers who have been working in the medical and healthcare fields. Descriptive analysis, independent t-test, χ² test, Fisher's exact test and logistic regression analyses were performed using SPSS 21.0 statistical program. RESULTS: Absence due to sickness was found in 7.8% of health and medical related workers. Absence due to sickness differed significantly depending on monthly income, company size, work-related musculoskeletal risk factors, job control, physical health problems and subjective health status would be important factors affecting absence. CONCLUSION: This study provides evidences that predictors of absence due to sickness in workers of medical and healthcare fields are identified. Therefore, we need the active support for health care service promotion and prevention for predictors of absence due to sickness.
Delivery of Health Care ; Diagnostic Self Evaluation ; Logistic Models ; Risk Factors ; Sick Leave

BACKGROUND: It is known that depression and anxiety tendency causes physical or social dysfunction. Nowadays, the air travel is increasing as the life condition has been improved so the health of pilots who are in charge of passengers become a very important issue. However, few studies have been done on this issue, especially the relationship between depression & anxiety and medical diseases among them. This study was performed to know the factors affection pilots' sick leave and the correlation between depression & anxiety and sick leave. METHODS: Self administered questionaires were obtained from 123 pilots of one of the airline companies at Seoul from 1st April to 30th may 2003. Depression tendency was measured based upon BDI, the level of anxiety was measured by the standardised STAI and obesity was diagnosed if a BMI is over 25 kg/m2. The data on the subjects' age, position, airlines and the days of sick leave were obtained from personal record. RESULTS: All the study subjects were male with the average age of 40.23+/-7.48 (ranging from 30 to 60). The average age for those who had sick leave was 34.58+/-3.50 and that for those who had not was 40.48+/-7.55 and these two average ages showed difference with statistical significance (P value <0.001), and the odd ratio of sick leave about age was 0.796 (95% CI: 0.645-0.938). Whether a pilot had sick leave or not, however, was not statistically related to the level of BDI, STAI, flying duty, flying route, and body mass index (P value >0.05). CONCLUSION: This study shows that the average age of sick leave group was lower than that of non-sick leave group (P<0.001). The level of depression and anxiety were not related to the sick leave. The reasons for this seems to be the fact that pilots are healthier than general population and also they pay more attention to their own health. The younger pilots tended to have more days of sick leave, which might be explain that the older pilots were more cautious about the disadvantages of having sick leave but, the younger pilots tend to have strong individualistic personalities.
Anxiety* ; Body Mass Index ; Depression* ; Diptera ; Humans ; Male ; Obesity ; Seoul ; Sick Leave*

OBJECTIVES: To analyze the association between changes in perceived physical and psychosocial working conditions and change of sickness absence days in younger and older (< 50 and > or = 50 years) food industry employees. METHODS: This was a follow up study of 679 employees, who completed working conditions survey questionnaires in 2005 and 2009 and for whom the requisite sickness absence data were available for the years 2004 and 2008. RESULTS: Sickness absence increased and working conditions improved during follow-up. However, the change of increased sickness absence days were associated with the change of increased poor working postures and the change of deteriorated team spirit and reactivity (especially among < 50 years). No other changes in working conditions were associated with the changes in sickness absence. CONCLUSION: Sickness absence is affected by many factors other than working conditions. Nevertheless, according to this study improving team spirit and reactivity and preventing poor working postures are important in decreasing sickness absence.
Follow-Up Studies ; Food Industry ; Occupational Exposure ; Posture ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Sick Leave ; Social Environment

People whose diabetes is under good metabolic control should not experience more illness or infection than people without diabetes. However, when any illness occurs in someone with diabetes, the potential for hyperglycemia, hyperglycemia with ketosis, hyperglycemia with ketoacidosis, or hypoglycemia exists and requires education and treatment to prevent exacerbation or even possible death. In some parts of the world where access to medical care, insulin, or parenteral fluids is problematic, the added metabolic stress of an illness in someone with diabetes can be life threatening. Many illnesses are associated with higher levels of stress hormones which promote gluconeogenesis and insulin resistance. Education about the effects of concurrent illness ("sick days") is a critical component of diabetes management and must be adapted to the educational abilities and treatment possibilities of the particular situations in different parts of the world.
Diabetes Mellitus ; Gluconeogenesis ; Humans ; Hyperglycemia ; Hypoglycemia ; Insulin ; Insulin Resistance ; Ketosis ; Sick Leave ; Stress, Physiological

BACKGROUND: Korean teacher’s working conditions are deteriorating. There is concern about the deterioration of teachers’ health and voice disorder is one of the most common problems. Teacher’s vocal health is important for them and their students. The aim of the present study was to investigate working conditions that may affect voice disorders. METHODS: In all, 79 primary and secondary schools were randomly selected for a nationwide school system survey (N = 3345). In 64 schools, 1617 (48.3%) teachers participated via a postal self-report questionnaire from June 2016 to August 2016. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, data from 1301 teachers’ were used for analysis. Multiple logistic regression was used to investigate the associations between general, work-related factors, and frequent voice disorders (fVDs) to estimate the adjusted odds ratio(aOR). RESULTS: Teachers who reported voice symptoms more than once a week (fVD) made up 11.6%. In a multiple logistic regression, fVD was significantly associated with female, difficulty in applying for sick leave as needed, music teachers (primary school), and less than 6 h of sleep per day (primary school). The aOR for fVD was 2.72 (0.83–8.10) in the longest working hours group (> 52 h/wk) among the primary school teachers, and 1.90 (0.80–4.73) in the longest class hour group (≥ 20 h/wk), 1.52 (0.90–2.62) in homeroom teachers among the secondary school teachers, but not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Korean teachers’ working conditions are associated with fVDs. The school health system must take steps to prevent and treat voice disorders of teachers.
Female ; Hoarseness ; Humans ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Music ; School Health Services ; Sick Leave ; Voice Disorders ; Voice

Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors are antidiabetic drugs that increase urinary glucose excretion by inhibiting proximal tubular reabsorption of glucose in the kidney. Some sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors have been shown to afford effective glycemic control and to decrease the risks of major adverse cardiovascular events. However, these drugs may increase the risk of diabetic ketoacidosis. This is a rare complication that occurs in less than 0.1% of treated patients with type 2 diabetes. The condition may be euglycemic, and is triggered by controllable precipitating factors such as surgery, infection, and insulin reduction or omission. It is important to understand individual patient profiles and to prevent diabetic ketoacidosis by appropriate prescribing, by withholding sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors when indicated, and by counseling patients on sick day management.
Counseling ; Diabetic Ketoacidosis ; Glucose ; Humans ; Hypoglycemic Agents ; Insulin ; Ketone Bodies ; Ketosis* ; Kidney ; Precipitating Factors ; Sick Leave ; Sodium-Glucose Transporter 2